Tokur gold ore–placer cluster in Amur Province: Geological–structural features and perspective of its development

The geological–structural features and gold-potential perspective of the Tokur ore–placer cluster in the Amur Province have been studied. This ore–placer cluster is a syncline composed of Paleozoic blackshale sequence, which is cut through by Late Paleozoic and Late Mesozoic intrusions. A granitoid massif is suggested at the depth on the basis of geophysical data. The cluster is distinguished by high productivity. Approximately 37 t gold from ore deposits, primarily from the Tokur deposit, and 60 t from placers have been mined out. The Tokur deposit is compared with the Natalka and Degdekan deposits from the Yana–Kolyma Province. Perspectives of the cluster area for large gold–quartz deposits and technogenic gold placers have been estimated.     

Evolution of the Vagran Gold-Bearing Placer Cluster (Northern Urals) and Prospects for Revealing Bedrock Mineralization

Geology of Ore Deposits - Abstract—More than 10 t of gold have been mined within the Vagran placer cluster (Northern Urals), and the identified primary sources are limited to single...     

哈萨克斯坦阿尔泰戈尔诺耶古近纪砂金矿地质特征及成矿规律

阿尔泰造山带砂金矿资源丰富,前人对河流中的砂金矿进行了详细研究,而对山间盆地中赋存的砂金矿研究较少.本文对哈萨克斯坦阿尔泰造山带南缘最东侧的戈尔诺耶古近纪含砂金盆地进行了初步研究,通过地质、自然重砂测量圈定了砂金异常,经浅井和砂钻等工程深部查证,结果显示砂金主要赋存在古近纪粗粒的石英砾石层中,砂金形态以片状为主,是以微...     

Geology and Gold Mineralization in the Pan-African Rocks of the Adola Area, Southern Ethiopia

Primary and placer gold deposits are mined from the Pan-African Adola volcano-sedimentary sequence, in southern Ethiopia. Two major mineralized belts can be recognized: the Megado (‘Gold Belt’) and the Kenticha Belts. The Kenticha Belt is also known for its rare metal mineralization. Extensive exploration of the area resulted in two most important primary gold deposits of Lega Dembi and Sakaro. The primary gold deposits are classified into four classes based on their geological setting:

- auriferous veins, lodes, stockworks and silicified zones disseminated in schistose rocks

- gold associated with quartzite

- gold mineralization confined to conglomerates and meta-arkoses

- auriferous quartz veins in high grade gneiss rocks

This classification provides a useful guide for future exploration programme     

Problem of intermediate collectors of gold

Analysis of conglomerates at the Kamenskoye goldfield, eastern Zabaykal'ye, shows that some of them are auriferous and are typical “interceptors” (transit collectors) of gold, depending on their petrographic composition and the environmental variables, and that three new variants of the lode-placer sequence are recognizable: a) lode → deluvial placer → interceptor → alluvial placer, (b) lode → interceptor → alluvial → placer, c) interceptor → alluvial placer. – V.P. Sokoloff.     

Styles of lode gold mineralization contributing to the placers of the Indian River and Black Hills Creek,Yukon Territory,Canada as deduced from microchemical characterization of placer gold grains

Between 1978 and 2009, approximately 430,000 oz of placer gold were obtained from the Indian River and Black Hills Creek, which equates to roughly 20% of the production for the entire Yukon Territory during that period. The area is unglaciated, exposure is poor, and there are few known lode gold occurrences present. The technique of microchemical characterization of placer gold grains has been applied to illuminate the style(s) of source mineralization and their relationship to placer gold from the Klondike gold district immediately to the north. A total of 2,613 placer gold grains from 22 localities were characterised in terms of the Au, Ag, Cu, and Hg content of their alloy and associated suite of opaque mineral inclusions. A combination of alloy and inclusion mineralogy was used to define gold signatures which augmented the previous classification of orogenic gold in the Klondike. Gold type 3b (8–25% Ag) is the main component of the placers in lower Dominion Creek but is augmented and eventually replaced by type 3a gold (10–40% Ag) in placers in the main Indian River valley, probably through erosion of gold-bearing veins in the valley floor. Type 4 gold exhibits highly variable Ag which may contain Hg to a maximum of 11 wt.%. This gold type also hosts a distinctive inclusion assemblage of complex polymetallic sulphides, tellurides, sulfotellurides, and sulfosalts and has previously been ascribed to local low sulfidation epithermal mineralization. Placer gold in drainages radiating from Eureka Dome exhibits various proportions of types 3 and 4 gold depending on location, but type 3 gold forms the major component in Black Hills Creek and northerly flowing tributaries of the Indian River with the exception of Eureka and Montana creeks. Type 5 gold is found only in placers in the middle and lower Indian River. It is distinguished by slightly elevated (0.05–0.17%) Cu in the gold alloy, together with low (5–9%) Ag contents. Inclusions of Bi minerals, Cr-bearing magnetite and molybdenite within type 5 gold suggest derivation from an intrusion-related source. Candidates for such a source include undiscovered lode occurrences associated with Cretaceous age intrusions to the south of the Indian River, or deformed Cu-Au (−Mo) porphyry occurrences which are known to be present in the same area. This analysis of placer gold has indicated that the contribution of low sulfidation epithermal gold from Eureka Creek to the larger placers of the Indian River is minor. Consequently, the placer gold inventory of the Indian River is primarily orogenic in origin. Similarly, the characterization of placer gold in Blackhills Creek strongly suggests an orogenic source. This study has demonstrated for the first time that orogenic lode gold mineralization extends a considerable distance to the south of the southern Klondike goldfield. This information contributes to the regional models of gold mineralization in an area which is currently the focus of intensive exploration.     

Residual-eluvial gold placers in northeastern Russia (Dal’nii placer)

We consider the formation of the Dal’nii (Dal’nyaya) eluvial gold placer (Bol’shoi Anyui ore–placer district, western Chukchi Peninsula), related to the Dal’nii (Dal’nee) gold-bearing porphyry Mo–Cu occurrence. The Dal’nii placer is located within the transition between the Kur’ya Ridge and Anyui basin, which has been relatively stable at the recent (Pliocene–Quaternary) tectonic stage. Minor recent uplift has determined the slight denudation of interfluves, the leading role of eluvial processes in the formation of a loose cover on them, and the preservation of the relict matter of pre-Pliocene chemical-weathering crusts (including the oxidized zones of orebodies) in present-day eluvium. The Dal’nii placer consists of relict weathering-crust placers altered by recent eluvial processes in different degrees. Therefore, it is relatively rich in metal, whereas the primary lode contains mainly fine-sized gold, which is almost not released from ore under periglacial lithogenesis in present-day interfluves. We suggest calling this genetic type of placers “residual-eluvial.” The primary lodes being highly eroded (during the formation of residual concentrations, which serve as an intermediate reservoir for these placers), residual-eluvial placers or their parts might not be directly related to specific orebodies at the present-day level of erosional truncation.     

嫩江上游砂金过采区基本特征及其地质意义

通过对砂金过采区基本特征的研究，提出要加强过采区砂金矿遗迹的开发利用扩大砂金资源基地，指出以过采区为依据寻找砂金矿可靠性大，风险度小，是行之有效的途径之一。     

Typomorphic features of placer gold of Vagran cluster (the Northern Urals) and search indicators for primary bedrock gold deposits

The Vagran placer cluster is located on the eastern slope of Northern Urals. During > 100 years of gold mining history approximately 40 tons of gold have been extracted from the placer deposits.Bedrocks of the region consist of high metamorphic Upper Proterozoic and Paleozoic terrigeneous, terrigeneous-volcanogenic and igneous rocks. Gold placer deposits are mostly alluvial genesis deposits and of Quaternary to Oligocene (?) age. The alluvial deposits consist of gravel with pebbles, boulders, and sandy clay covered by sandy silt and a soil layer. The thickness of the alluvial sequence is usually 5–10 m and reaches 18 m in the main watercourses of the third order. Nearly all of the alluvial sediments are gold bearing but concentrations of economic importance prevail in the bottom part of the sequence above the bedrock.There are four different types of gold particles: (I) rounded and well-rounded particles of high fineness and homogeneous inner structure, (II) rounded to sub-rounded high fineness particles with a pure gold rim developed over a core, (III) crystallomorphic (idiomorphic) high fineness with a homogeneous inner structure, and (IV) irregular angular and subangular particles of medium fineness with a significant content of Ag (10–40 wt.%) and elevated Hg (up to 1.15 wt.%).The first type is prevalent and comprises up to 65% of the total gold particles; it is uniformly distributed throughout the territory. There are features with initially complicated dendritic and laminar shaped particles which were rounded during transportation. The second and third types have a propensity for zones of the inherited erosion–tectonic depressions. Apparently, types I, II and III are related with orogenic mesothermal gold-sulfide-quartz mineralization; the differences of these types depend on the primary zonation of ore bodies and supergenic transformation of the alloys. They were connected with middle-depth ore bodies of an orogenic gold-sulfide-quartz formation. The fourth type is evident of nearby transportation from primary sources and a short duration of supergenic influence. It is controlled by a zone of NW-SE orientation, diagonal to the main structures of Ural Fold Belt.The plot of Au content vs coefficient of heterogeneity (ratio of the Au content in the core and in the rim of the grains) is the distinguishing factor between the four types of gold grains both by primary hypogenetic characteristics and supergenetic features.No corresponding lode occurrence of gold-sulfide-quartz mineralization has been identified to date in this region. Placer gold concentrations are related to the intermediate hosts of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic surfaces of the Ural peneplain uplift in the Oligocene and eroded in Miocene-Quaternary time. This factor determines the widespread distribution of placer gold in the territory of the Vagran cluster.The large, Carlin-type Vorontsovsk gold deposit is located 60 km south-east from the Vagran area. It has a shallow erosional level, small size of native gold, and its distal location from the placer deposits makes it an unlikely primary source for the Vagran placers. However, mineralization of this type of deposit is noted within the cluster.Gold of the fourth type nearly resembles the gold of the Vorontsovsk deposit and, apparently, the source is related to the same hydrothermal mineralization event. ICP MS analyses of the quartz-sulfide lodes in the floor of gold-bearing valleys revealed a gold content of 2.0–6.9 g/t in the zone of type IV distribution. Therefore, gold of the fourth type can be used as an indicator for the exploration of primary bedrock mineralization. The geological setting and typomorphic features of this placer gold shows that the primary gold mineralization is similar to the Vorontsovsk deposit and within the zone of distribution of the placer gold of the fourth type.     

辽南碧流河中上游砂金矿地质特征及成矿地质条件

辽南碧流河中上游砂金矿位于营口—宽甸台拱与复州台陷的交接部位。砂金主要赋存于碧流河及其支谷水系第四系全新统砂砾石层的底部,砂金矿体平行河谷呈层状分布;矿体埋藏浅,砂金粒度中粗,易采选;属冲洪积型谷底砂金矿。本区砂金主要来源于岩金矿和含金地层,成矿物质丰沛,成矿地质条件优越,是辽南砂金成矿的远景区。     

浅谈冲积型砂金矿床成矿模式——以陕西月河砂金矿床为例

本文通过对砂金矿床形成过程的分析认为:在地壳局部下沉过程中,砂金在水等强应力作用下,与砾石、砂一起进入沉积盆地,形成砂金的中间储存体;随着地壳的间歇性上升,在蛇曲河流的作用下由于砂金与砾石的运动规律相仿,故和砾面一起被保留在河流冲刷面上的河床滞留砾石沉积中。当地壳多次间歇性上升后,使砂金中间储存体中分散的砂金集中富集在河床滞留砾石层中,从而形成砂金矿床。     

秘鲁朋友砂金矿床成矿模型研究

朋友砂金矿床位于秘鲁南部亚马逊盆地中,具有典型的热带雨林气候和独特的水文地质特征.第四系松散堆积层发育完全,厚度大.圣母河砂金矿的富集有明显规律性,其与水文地质条件及物质来源相关,这种成矿规律性可用一模型来描述,该模型适用于具有金矿成矿物质来源的热带河流冲积型砂金矿床.合理的找矿方法是热带雨林地区砂金矿床定位评价的关键.     

黑龙江省砂金指纹（化学成分）特征

对黑龙江省８４个砂金，７个岩金样品的化学成分进行了研究。通过Ｒ型聚类分析、探讨了不同元素之间相关性及其地质意义。通过Ｑ型聚类分析将所有样品进行分类，探讨了砂金样品与已知岩金样品之间的成因联系，并对砂金的可能原生金源的剥蚀程度进行了估计。     

Anomalous pebble size variation in an erosive, Late Archaean braided stream: the Middelvlei gold placer, Witwatersrand, South Africa

A characteristic of fluvial conglomerates is a gradual decrease in pebble size in the direction of the palaeocurrents. However, for the ancient braided stream investigated in this study, a deviation from this norm was found. The Middelvlei gold placer is a quartz pebble conglomerate that is mined in a South African goldfield, known as the West Wits Line, situated west of Johannesburg. Stratigraphically the placer occurs near the base of the Central Rand Group of the Witwatersrand Supergroup. In previous studies, the placer and the underlying sequence have been shown to be fluvial in origin, constituting a coarsening upward genetic increment of strata. The complete conformable succession, however, is only preserved in the distal parts of the depositional environment. In most parts of the goldfield the placer is separated from the underlying sequence by a progressive unconformity, which disappears deeper into the basin. This unconformity is thought to have formed during a progradation. Palaeocurrents of the Middelvlei placer are towards the south-southeast in the western parts of the study area and towards the south-east in the east. Maximum pebble size, however, decreases towards the west-southwest, that is in a direction roughly perpendicular to the palaeocurrents. A reconstruction of the palaeotopography of the base of the placer in the western parts of the study area revealed considerable variations in palaeoheight with a gradient of about 0·002 along depositional strike. The anomalous lateral pebble size variation of the placer is explained by postulating an eastward migration of the depositing braided stream, simultaneous with its progradation. During the eastward migration, erosion of the underlying sequence became progressively more severe. This created an eastward-thinning wedge of underlying strata. The results of the study do not invalidate lateral pebble size variation as a regional palaeoslope indicator. However, the findings suggest that caution should be exercised in the application of this indicator.     

Geochemical assessment of an analogue site for an engineered landform at Ranger Uranium Mine, Northern Territory, Australia

 An essential element in identifying sites as analogues for the long-term development of soils and vegetation on engineered landforms of the rehabilitated Ranger Uranium Mine, Northern Territory, Australia, is the need to match rocks. Comparison of the geochemistry of rocks from the waste rock dump of Ranger Uranium Mine and the potential analogue site of Tin Camp Creek area, Western Arnhem Land, indicates that there are several sites along Tin Camp Creek that may be used as analogue sites. Detailed comparisons between the Ranger and Tin Camp Creek lithologies have been undertaken using a variety of techniques, including cluster analysis. It is demonstrated that at least 70% of the rocks being mined at Ranger have analogues in the Tin Camp Creek area. Received: 2 October 1996 · Accepted: 4 November 1997     

Heavy mineral characteristics of the Neogene–Quaternary sediments from the southern part of the Blagoevgrad Basin, SW Bulgaria

The Blagoevgrad Basin, a graben filled with Neogene–Quaternary continental sedimentary successions, is one of the most prospective placer-gold bearing regions in southwestern Bulgaria. The Quaternary sediments have been well explored and economically prospective areas have been identified. Previous studies indicated very limited occurrences of placer gold in the Neogene sediments, the genesis of which is connected with resedimentation of Paleogene sediments from the adjacent Bobov dol Basin to the north. From these previous studies, a detailed allo- and lithostratigraphic scheme, and paleogeographic models were developed.The present study aimed to evaluate the plausibility of the existing stratigraphic schemes and paleogeographic models for the area, through detailed study of the heavy mineral fraction of the Neogene and part of the Quaternary sediments from the southern part of the Blagoevgrad Basin. Additional objectives were to determine the mode of occurrence and the stratigraphic position of the placer gold in the Neogene sediments, and to investigate possible source areas. Special attention was paid to the mineral composition and the structure of the opaque detrital Fe–Ti oxide minerals, and the typologic features of the zircons. The results obtained could be used as a provenance indicator and for determination of the nature of the source area and the processes that operated therein.A very important finding is the discovery of placer gold in an additional three Neogene units. The morphologic features of the gold grains indicate short transport or proximity to the primary source. This interpretation is inconsistent with existing hypotheses on the origin and presence of the gold in the sediments of the basin. The characteristics of the magnetic heavy mineral fraction, and the morphologic features of zircon grains in auriferous samples, indicate the diorites and gabbro-diorites from the Strouma Diorite Group, which outcrop along the eastern edge of the graben, as a possible source.The stratigraphic distribution of the heavy minerals fully supports the plausibility of the existing detailed allo- and lithostratigraphic subdivision, and the paleogeographic model for the development of the southern part of the basin. Also, the results provide support for the soundness of an allostratigraphic approach for the study and exploration of placer deposits in basins similar to the Blagoevgrad.     

Compositional variations and morphological evolution in platinum beach placers, southern New Zealand

Morphologies of placer platinum group minerals (PGM) are more variable and resistant to modification during transport than placer gold grains. This study documents morphological evolution of PGM placer grains during up to 120 km of transport in beach placers after river transport from inferred sources up to 200 km inland. PGM morphological changes are calibrated with changes in morphology of associated placer gold. Most of the PGM are Pt-Fe alloy and have been fed into the beach placer system from a large river at the western end of the beaches on the south coast of New Zealand. The incoming fluvial PGM suite includes Os, Ir and Ru alloys which may have been derived from distal ophiolitic sources. More proximal sources have Ural-Alaskan affinities and these contributed cooperite and braggite, or sperrylite, locally, as well as Pt-Fe alloy grains. Some PGM may have been recycled through Cretaceous-Quaternary fluvial sediments before entering the modern placer system. Recycled placer PGM grains have also been derived from elevated Quaternary beaches near the coastline. PGM grains entering beach placers have rough surfaces, with remnants of crystal faces, and these evolve to smooth flakes with progressive long-shore transport. PGM flakes have slightly thickened rims caused by impacts by saltating sand on windy beaches, and the most distal beach placers contain flakes with incipient toroidal shapes. These PGM incipient toroids are poorly developed compared to accompanying well-formed toroidal gold that has developed in nearly all beach placers, including those on elevated Quaternary beaches. Typical PGM and gold placer grain size decreases with increasing distance of transport, from fluvial grain size of 400–1,000 to ～200 microns on the most distal beaches, accompanied by eastward loss of equant PGM grains and associated increase in proportion of flakes. Although net transport distance is ～120 km in the beach placer complex, frequent aeolian transport of grains from beach to dunes and subsequent recycling by storm surges substantially increased total transport distance in a dynamic windy tectonic environment.     

砂金的成因讨论：以吉林珲春砂金矿区为例

本文对砂金矿物的形态、表生显微结构及残留原生结构、化学成分及杂质元素、气液包体成分及爆裂温度进行了研究。认为该区的砂金以碎屑成因为主,化学成因仅占很次要的地位,砂金的原生来源为海西-燕山期的斑岩型和火山岩型金矿床。     

Gold exploration using lead isotopes at Tennant Creek,Australia

Lead isotope analyses have been undertaken as part of a program to evaluate the potential of geochemical methods for use in exploration in the Tennant Creek goldfield. Earlier exploration in this area was based on magnetic geophysical methods. Economic Au, Cu and Bi mineralization usually occurs in magnetic magnetite-chlorite lenses or pods (“ironstones”) which may be only 30 m across. Several hundred ironstones are found in the Tennant Creek field, of which only nine have been significant producers. Despite complications arising from the low Pb and relatively elevated U contents of the ore, determination of Pb isotope ratios in drill core material allows discrimination between economic magnetic ironstones and “barren” ironstones of similar mineralogy. A target signature for the Th-derived Pb isotope ratio, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, is specific for lode mineralization, although it does not discriminate between Au-rich and Cu-rich lodes. The target signature is commonly found not only in the central Au-rich magnetite-chlorite zone, but also in the outer “barren” talc-magnetite and carbonate zones, offering up to a two-fold increase in the size of the target. The Pb isotope signature is retained in hematite-rich surface ironstones (termed “gossans” here) and it appears possible, at this stage of the project, to discriminate between gossans derived from mineralized magnetite lodes and “barren” magnetite lodes. A discrimination between weakly-mineralized (either Cu or Au) and economic deposits is equivocal at this stage. The difference between target and sample ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios (Δ208/204) ranges from −3 to +2% for the economic lodes, through weakly mineralized and “barren” magnetic ironstones (commonly in the range −20 to −40%) to the country rock magnetite shales (about −40 to −70%). These data are consistent with a significant Pb component in the “barren” ironstones being derived locally from the magnetite shales. Hematite shales commonly associated with economic lodes may have acted as limited channelways for the ore fluids as the target signature is discernible for up to 50 m along the hematite shale bands from the outer chlorite zones of the economic lodes. Further trace element and isotopic work is necessary to elucidate the genesis of the mineralization.     

内蒙古呼伦贝尔盟北部砂金矿成矿规律

呼伦贝尔盟北部地区由于新构造运动含金地质体长期风化剥蚀，促使金的活化。河流及其2－3级支流发育，流域广，水流充足，有利于砂金矿的迁移、富集。现代的乐山丘陵、宽阔沟谷有利于砂金的保存。该区已发现数十个砂金矿，多为河谷型，主要含金层为含粘土砂层或砂砾层。砂金富集与河谷地貌关系密切，河床弯曲的凸岸、变异部位、关门咀、迎门山等地貌是砂金富集有利部位。该区金直接来源于加里东和华力西花岗岩。结合金的来源、矿床的分布特征和富集规律，指出了该区今后砂金找矿方向。